Mt Baldy has become the first ski area in North America to re-open for snow sports after closing a month ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mt Baldy Resort is located in the San Gabriel Mountains in San Bernadino, Southern California, just 45 miles from the city of Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, San Bernardino County leaders softened restrictions for several outdoor activities, meaning the resort was able to re-open, but only for experienced advanced and above skiers and snowboarders, and with very stringent social distancing guidelines in operation.
The resort is following a model “similar to how a golf course operates”, meaning a maximum of four people will be ‘checked in’ at ten-minute intervals. Mask or face covering is also necessary at all times.
All skiers will be required to have a pre-booked 1 Day Alpine Lift Ticket (currently priced at $99) or a Mt Baldy Season Pass, to ensure that sales are limited and the resort will be operating at less than 10% of occupancy.
In terms of lifts, Mt Baldy Resort suggest that skiers ride alone, unless riding with someone you are currently in quarantine with. However they have also stressed that Mt Baldy is “not the ‘Quarantine Police’ and does not intend to be” in guidelines published on their website.
As LA’s closest ski resort, the news of the resort’s reopening will be sure to delight some snow sports fans in the area, though others consider it to be too soon for resorts to reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The amount of happy faces we’ve seen today kind of says it all,” Robby Ellingson, the resort general manager, told NBC Los Angeles.